Photography by Todd Coleman
Whether they’re the star of a dish or the unexpected secret ingredient, anchovies make a flavorful, briny, savory addition to all kinds of recipes.
Sauteed Sole with Olives
A tangy paste of green olives, anchovies, and capers is the perfect topping for mild and tender filet of sole.
Acchiughe Con Salsa Verde
Use salt-packed anchovy fillets to make this antipasto from Luciano De Giacomi’s Nonna Genia’s Classic Langhe Cookbook (Astilibri, 1982).
Salade Niçoise
A French bistro staple, this provençal salad combines tuna, olives, cucumber, green beans, anchovies, and other spring vegetables for a filling and protein-rich meal.
Braised Cavolo Nero
The leaves of cavolo nero (also known as Tuscan kale, Lacinato kale, or Dinosaur kale) cook slowly into a luscious heap when braised whole.
Marcella Hazan’s Bagna Cauda
This Italian classic, whose Italian name means warm bath, provides the perfect counterpoint to raw vegetables. This recipe is based on one in Essentials of Classic Italian Cuisine (Knopf, 1992) by Marcella Hazan.
Swordfish Puttanesca
Italy’s puttanesca sauce, briny with anchovies, olives, and capers, pairs well with swordfish or any other meaty fish.
Parsley Pesto with Anchovies
Capers and anchovies lend briny depth to this parsley sauce, which is fantastic tossed with grilled or boiled vegetables, and with rich fish like mackerel.
Pasta with Spicy Tomato-Beer Sauce
Based on a dish served at Birrificio Italiano, a brewery and restaurant in Italy’s Lombardy region, this puttanesca-style pasta sauce is enriched with Bibock, the brewery’s bock-style beer.
Lamb Chops with Mint Salsa Verde
Salsa verde, a Mediterranean condiment flavored with anchovies, capers, and herbs, partners nicely with seared, medium-rare lamb chops.
Roast Veal and Pork with a Duo of Caper and Anchovy Sauces
At Savron, a restaurant in Trieste, Italy, they roast cuts of pork and veal and then pave a serving plate with cold thin slices of each and slathers on these two flavorful sauces. At home, use the sauces to dress up leftover meats—pork or veal or a combination of the two. The color of the anchovy sauce will vary according to the variety of anchovies used; plump, rosy ones, which are usually packed in glass jars, tend to yield a thicker, more richly hued sauce.
Radicchio with Anchovy and Rosemary Sauce
The versatile sauce used here comes from Rogers Gray Italian Country Cook Book (Random House, 1995), by Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, chef-owners of London’s acclaimed (and very Italian) River Cafe. It can be used not only as a dip for radicchio and other vegetables, but also spooned over grilled or roasted fish or lamb. Rogers and Gray recommend green Tuscan olive oil.
Grilled Steak with Sauce Vierge
Sauce vierge (literally, virgin sauce, a reference to its uncooked character) belongs to a family of fresh French Mediterranean sauces that differ greatly from the rich, stock-based sauces commonly associated with classical French cooking. Also called green sauce, sauce aux herbes, and sauce verte, it is usually a piquant mixture of olive oil, herbs, mustard, capers, olives, and other aromatics. In this version, chiles add a spicy, new-world dimension. Besides accompanying steak, this sauce goes well with grilled or sauteed pork chops or tuna. Get the recipe for Grilled Steak with Sauce Vierge »
